GAC Aion has entered into a partnership with an Indonesian company and plans to build an EV factory there.

(Image credit: GAC Aion)

GAC Aion, the electric vehicle (EV) subsidiary of GAC Group, has announced its entry into Indonesia to tap Southeast Asia's largest automotive market and plans to build a factory there.

GAC Aion signed a strategic partnership agreement with Indonesia's Indomobil Group on April 2, announcing its official entry into the local market, according to a press release yesterday.

The partnership will strengthen GAC Aion's "Thailand + Indonesia" dual-plant strategy and bring more EV options to the Southeast Asian market, the company said.

GAC Aion's press release did not mention any specific timetable for the construction of its Indonesian plant.

GAC Aion will cooperate with Indomobil in areas including vehicle manufacturing, vehicle sales and service, energy, and mobility markets, it said.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most populous country and largest auto market, is rich in nickel resources and has policy and resource advantages in the development of the automotive industry, the company noted.

Separately, local media outlet Jakarta Globe quoted GAC Aion's general manager Gu Huinan as saying that the brand will make its debut at the Gaikindo Indonesia International auto show (GIIAS) in June, and that it will launch four new cars there in the coming year.

In its debut, GAC Aion will first launch two SUVs in Indonesia, the Aion Y Plus and Hyper HT, according to the report.

To date, GAC Aion has entered the Southeast Asian markets including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and is building its first overseas manufacturing base in Thailand.

In the future, GAC Aion will also enter the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas to create global production and marketing bases, the company said.

GAC Aion signed a memorandum of cooperation with a Thai distributor on June 28, 2023, to officially enter the Thai market.

On September 9 last year, GAC Aion said the Aion Y Plus was officially launched in Thailand. On March 26, GAC Aion's Hyper brand announced the local pre-sale of the Hyper HT at the Bangkok auto show.

On January 31, GAC Aion said it began construction on its factory in Thailand, its first overseas production site.

The factory is located in Rayong province in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with a planned investment of 2.3 billion baht ($63 million). It has a design capacity of 50,000 units per year and will be built in two phases, with the first phase scheduled for completion in July 2024.

The first model GAC Aion plans to produce at the Thai plant is a right-hand drive version of the Aion Y Plus, with more models to be produced locally at the plant in the future, it previously said.

GAC Aion begins construction of its Thailand plant with designed capacity of 50,000 cars per year